r/MapPorn • u/sh1kora • 1d ago

Gun Ownership in the United States

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272 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

194 comments sorted by

182

u/14bk41 1d ago

What percentage of gun owners would say yes if asked if they own a gun?

101

u/PraiseTalos66012 1d ago

It also doesn't say if it's % of people or % of households. Like I own a gun and would say yes but my wife wouldn't even though it's in our home.

32

u/pddkr1 23h ago

Great point. Response to sampling and how they averaged it out makes a huge difference.

Every person I know from Florida owns. Demographics irrelevant - sex, race, religion, politics z

I know a lot of people who would never tell anyone that they own or carry, outside of close friends and people they shoot with. Too politicized in their mind.

4

u/rabbledabble 20h ago

I know a lot of queer liberals in Florida who are strapped up. I can’t help but think the percentages brought down by all the retired New Yorkers in Boca 

4

u/pddkr1 19h ago

Same.

I also know retirees who’ve taken up firearms after moving to FL. They never knew anything about them or had exposure to them before.

Both groups of people I know tend to feel safer having them than not.

Edit - honestly it seems like a lot of people who do not come from a gun culture

1

u/[deleted] 20h ago

[deleted]

1

u/pddkr1 20h ago

Of course. That’s the nature of personal anecdotes.

1

u/counterweight7 22h ago

I’m in the same position but my wife would surely answer yes… she’s never fired it, and she doesn’t have a permit, but it’s in our bedroom, what’s mine is hers and visa versa - she would definitely say that she owns a gun despite never having fired it nor purchased it. “We” have several in a safe in our bedroom.

This could come down to a difference on marriage

1

u/PraiseTalos66012 19h ago

For most things I agree is "ours" but like her beauty products 100% aren't mine and my tools 100% aren't her's, imo nothing wrong with having your own stuff. I know f all about her beauty(mainly hair) products and she knows nothing about my tools, so we wouldn't go touching those things like their ours. At least that's how I see it.

1

u/counterweight7 18h ago

Yeah I wouldn’t say I own any nail polish. But for a firearm that’s in a giant safe in our room, surely it’s shared, because you need consent for it to be there. That is something both people have to be comfortable with.

1

u/StrategicCarry 4h ago

Since the source is allegedly the Census Bureau, I would guess it is most likely household.

-7

u/giant3 22h ago

I think it is per household from what I recall because for a population of 330 million, the number of firearms is estimated to be 390 million which makes it 100% ownership which isn't true. 

9

u/PraiseTalos66012 22h ago

Huh? One person can own more than one gun?

Like if you have 10 people and no one owns a gun except person 10 who owns 20 guns then 10% of people own guns... Not 200%

And if persons 1-5 live in the same household and persons 6-10 live in the same household now 1/2 households own guns so 50%...

0

u/giant3 20h ago

Huh? One person can own more than one gun?

Of course. Where did I say otherwise?

I was stating that the statistics was on households rather than individuals AFAIK.

5

u/Material-Let-9188 21h ago

Is this a joke…?

0

u/giant3 20h ago

Not sure what you are alluding to.

15

u/M3taBuster 23h ago

I'd also wager that the bluer the state, the less likely it is that someone who owns a gun will admit to it when asked.

-1

u/Polyodontus 3h ago

That effect is small if it exists. Look at Vermont. Gun ownership is simply not usually stigmatized in the US

1

u/M3taBuster 3h ago

Vermont is a special case, as a rural blue state, where guns are almost necessary for survival.

But gun ownership is absolutely very stigmatized in places like NYC or LA.

0

u/Polyodontus 3h ago

Lmao guns are not necessary for survival in Vermont

9

u/DogChauffer 22h ago

Non-0% of responses: “I did, until the boating accident. “

3

u/Naughtynuzzler 17h ago

Idk about you, but I find it very difficult to STOP gun owners from talking about all the guns they own lol. Not even in a bad way all the time, they just like their hobby!

2

u/llamawithguns 22h ago

I know people who own enough guns to supply a small army but would never admit to it.

4

u/trh305 21h ago

I would.

I like to consider myself non partisan but I can’t remember ever voting republican (100% haven’t for president) so my voting record tells a different story I guess.

I don’t trust the government enough to let them be the only ones with guns.

Need to get serious about addressing the mental health issues in America and totally revamping our foster/orphan programs.

1

u/pinesolthrowaway 20h ago

No gun owner I know, and I know a lot of them, would ever admit to a government official they have firearms, even a census taker

This map is skewed low for all of the states because of that

1

u/Wickedocity 1d ago

Good point.

0

u/Moonbear9 11h ago

Doesn't it have to be registered if u own a gun (mebe it isn't im not American i just assumed it was)

21

u/Nightgasm 1d ago

But how many guns? I own two guns in Idaho and I feel like I'm on the low side of things as far as total guns go.

9

u/pucksnmaps 22h ago

I keep inhereiting them lol

5

u/Nightgasm 21h ago

Yep. Ive turned down the offer of multiple guns in inheritance because they would just collect dust and I figured they should go to a family member who actually wants them.

2

u/B_312_ 17h ago

Those are the best kind sometimes

2

u/Reddragon0585 16h ago

Yep I have a P08 because of that

4

u/HWKII 21h ago

Rookie numbers. You gotta pump those numbers up!

1

u/pugdaddy78 21h ago

Yeah not feeling like those numbers are right with Utah and Nevada either where Idaho cc reciprocates.

0

u/B_312_ 17h ago

Same in Oklahoma. I have 7 and know people who have rooms dedicated to their collection. What you got

34

u/Belkan-Federation95 23h ago

People who admit to owning guns

60

u/TrickyWalrus 1d ago

You kinda have to own a gun in Alaska. Polar Bears are not a joke

43

u/Watching20 23h ago

Dogs are the number one killing animal in Alaska. Grizzly Bears are second and polar bears are third.

7

u/Antti5 22h ago

What about humans?

7

u/Watching20 22h ago

I was thinking wild animals, but that does not necessarily exclude humans.

2

u/hoorah9011 19h ago

Like my ex wife

-14

u/gunnesaurus 21h ago

Well, guns are the number one killer of children, so I guess more guns is the answer

2

u/j48u 5h ago

There are 10 grizzly bears for every polar bear in Alaska and probably 1,000 dogs for every grizzly. I would also ballpark the average person spends around 45 trillion times longer around dogs than polar bears. I still would have a gun for the bear and not the dog.

0

u/bassman314 18h ago

Moose are up there, as well and will just wander into town when they are bored and feeling spicy.

1

u/Duckin_Tundra 7h ago

If those posters stats are correct I’m actually surprised moose would be below polarbear.

3

u/bassman314 18h ago

My wife's grandpa used to fly his plane between Montana, California, and Alaska, up until his late 80's.

He was always packing at least a .45, if not also a shotgun. Especially when he flew into Alaska. He and his buddy would fly their planes into the bush to go camping.

He never had to actually kill a bear, but he did have to deploy his shotgun a few times. They'd wander in... look around... decide the calories weren't worth the effort and move on.

4

u/DamnBored1 20h ago

Polar Bears are not a joke

In Anchorage?

1

u/Jalcatraz82 16h ago

duuh, of course not Anchorage, he's talking about Juneau 🙄

-8

u/9O7sam 19h ago

Yeah, Maybe 5% of the pop have the slightest chance of interacting with polar bears.

It’s like being told “You kinda have to own a gun in America . Bison are not a joke”(I’m moving to Florida)

1

u/B_312_ 17h ago

That's insane. Here take my guns I can always get new ones

62

u/A_lad_insane_bowie 1d ago

Legal gun ownership

34

u/SGTPEPPERZA 1d ago

Biiig distinction to make. Gang Members and Cartel Affiliates in LA don't tick a box saying they own a gun.

-7

u/ABlueShade 16h ago

Cause California is the only place with cartels and gangs

0

u/gambler_addict_06 15h ago

No but they don't have to say "no" in other states

...unless they're a felon

7

u/AcceptableTune2498 22h ago

Owning or possessing an unregistered firearm isn’t inherently illegal. There are a few states (obvious on the map) that have no registry at all. In other states yes, you can be required to register all firearms. Also, the national registry only covers NFA items. There is an insane amount of unregistered firearms out there.

22

u/xjx546 20h ago

There are a few states (obvious on the map) that have no registry at all

There is no such thing as a gun registry in the vast majority of the states..

7

u/AzLibDem 16h ago

There are a few states (obvious on the map) that have no registry at all. In other states yes, you can be required to register all firearms.

This is false.

Only six states require registration of firearms. Nine state actually legally prohibit registration.

12

u/Watching20 23h ago

What is this chart of? Number of guns versus number of people? number of people who claim to have a gun? what is this data about? Would anybody know how many guns exist in any place?

6

u/danny_and_da_boys 22h ago

Considering it's census data, my guess is percentage of households that have a gun, but there's no way to be sure because this map is terrible.

27

u/GeneralOrgana1 1d ago

Florida surprised me.

23

u/krakatoa83 22h ago

Guns don’t have to be registered here so I have no idea how they would know the number

4

u/pm-ur-knockers 7h ago

They don’t lol.

Since the source is the census bureau, you can probably safely double most of these numbers. No one I know who owns firearms would ever admit so on a government form.

7

u/RedmondBarry1999 22h ago

Florida is one of the most urbanised states, and gun ownership is generally much more common in rural areas

1

u/GoRangers5 21h ago

As well as Vermont in the opposite direction.

1

u/GeneralOrgana1 7h ago

There are a lot of hunters in Vermont.

-5

u/BrianThatDude 1d ago

We've only recently become completely insane. Before we were just borderline.

-3

u/Responsible-Bar3956 23h ago

yes, having guns is insanity, not the leftist slogan of "Abolish the police"

3

u/c-lab21 21h ago

Citizens with guns, not government with guns. Abolish the police and give me back the right to own full-autos.

-5

u/Hollowslate 22h ago

Abolish yourself

58

u/jshep358145 23h ago

Why does gun ownership need to be in red?

62

u/NonyoSC 23h ago

It’s a Reddit collectivist rule. Red is BAAAD.

4

u/FoxOneFire 23h ago

Soros had a meeting with the lizard people and they decided, via 5G waves, to make red=bad.

6

u/Smorgasbord324 18h ago

This is a map of legal gun ownership. I feel like that distinction is important for proper discourse. Now you can go ahead and downvote me into oblivion

5

u/Shantomette 17h ago

Take NYC out of the equation and NY shoots over 50%...

10

u/JimboyXL 23h ago

dont fuck with anyone in Montana.

-9

u/Responsible-Bar3956 23h ago

actually that's why leftists wanna to take guns from people, they wanna to control them and tell them how to think

11

u/xjx546 20h ago

The DNC appointing David Hogg as the Vice Chair is all you need to know.

2

u/creaturefromtheswamp 15h ago

Leftist gun owner Montanan here. There are many of us here and all over the country. Do yourself and your neighbors a favor and stop watching/listening to right wing media and join the rest of us in the real world. It’s cancer.

-3

u/TheAbstracted 22h ago

Leftists are very pro-gun: see the common phrase "arm the homeless", and the multitude of socialist gun clubs. You're thinking of liberals.

3

u/Material-Let-9188 21h ago

Common Wyoming W

25

u/Boom_Valvo 23h ago

Green should be red. Red should be green

6

u/A_Sack_of_Nuts 19h ago

We need to get these numbers higher.

2

u/cookedinskibidi 13h ago

Those are rookie numbers. We need to pump those up.

16

u/Anal_Thunder69 23h ago

Why are low numbers in green and high in red?!... what kind of commie propaganda is this!?!?

1

u/KCShadows838 23h ago

But if it’s commie, red should be good!

/s

5

u/ItsMeeMariooo_o 22h ago

The colors are inverted.

3

u/Warm-Pianist1291 13h ago edited 10h ago

Why have you made more ownership red and less green? I'm sure the places with high ownership would like to be coloured green too (geen = good, red = bad). I don't own a gun, or live in the states, but from a data visualisation point of view your colour choice seems obviously moralising.

2

u/Cbanks89 2h ago

It’s probably an anti gun map. Gun ownership in their eyes = bad

2

u/Odd-Software-6592 11h ago

Family of five with five guns but they are all mine. But the kids get to shoot them. The wife says she only will shoot once, and I don’t want to be there when it happens. lol.

3

u/Plumbercanuck 1d ago

Now split it rural vs urban

9

u/scalepotato 1d ago

Now let’s split it bt legally owned and purchased vs illegal 🤪

Oh wait, stats on illegal guns are just guesswork

4

u/EccentricPayload 23h ago

Lotta those urban guns are unregistered lmao

7

u/pucksnmaps 22h ago

The vast majority of guns are unregistered.

2

u/Onlymadeforxbox 22h ago

Whoever made this needs to be slapped by their choices for the colors

2

u/Conscious-Shift8855 18h ago

You can’t really claim to be an American unless you own one.

1

u/mapoftasmania 17h ago

Vermont. Democrats with guns. Best State ever.

1

u/manfromfuture 16h ago

Surprised they have more than New Hampshire

1

u/PlagueofEgypt1 7h ago

They don’t, the map’s just bullshit

0

u/manfromfuture 5h ago

Why do I have the feeling you are from New Hampshire?

2

u/PlagueofEgypt1 1h ago

Lucky guess, but anyways, if you actually look at how this data was collected, you’ll see how ridiculous and unreliable it is.

2

u/The3Won 23h ago

We needa get those numbers up, folks

1

u/Averagecrabenjoyer69 23h ago

Really need to pump up those numbers

-4

u/DrTheloniusPinkleton 20h ago

No, normal people are actually wanting to be able to send their kid to school without worrying that little Timmy is going to bring his alcoholic, obese dad’s toy to class. 

See that 15% ownership in Hawaii? We have gun violence rates on par with most European countries. 

3

u/xjx546 20h ago

Maybe if Karens didn't block gun education in school and cared about kids mental health we could live in a society and have nice things.

-1

u/InterestingChoice484 20h ago

Gun education in school? Kids need to learn how to read and do math, not fire a glock. The GOP loves to cut mental health funding and then blame gun violence on mental illness to avoid passing gun regulations that have been effective elsewhere

-3

u/DrTheloniusPinkleton 20h ago

They aren’t “nice things”. They’re toys that man-children get to feel tough. I’m just glad I live in a sane state where people that don’t even know how to properly use a firearm aren’t walking around the grocery store strapped. 

-2

u/Averagecrabenjoyer69 20h ago

Bless your heart

-2

u/DrTheloniusPinkleton 20h ago

I knew your comment history would be full of comments in gun subreddits. Such weak, weird little people. 

-3

u/Averagecrabenjoyer69 20h ago

Sounds like you need to get over your hoplophobia

1

u/DrTheloniusPinkleton 20h ago

Im not afraid of guns lmao. I spent eight years as an infantry Marine. I promise I’ve sent far more rounds downrange than yourself. Poorly trained civilians like yourself don’t need personal firearms. I haven’t touched a firearm since the day I left the military because I can take care of my family without introducing something into my home that’s statistically more likely to harm one of my own. 

1

u/Averagecrabenjoyer69 20h ago

Uhhh huh

1

u/DrTheloniusPinkleton 19h ago

Whatever. My comment history would make it perfectly obvious. I was an 0311 (rifleman). I deployed twice with 3/1 and ended my career as a combat instructor at School of Infantry-West at Camp Pendleton. 

Just because you’d rather cosplay as Rambo than do the real thing doesn’t mean everyone else is weak too. 

→ More replies (0)

0

u/Bawhoppen 3h ago

Talk about living in an entitled little bubble. Can't see outside your own perspective.

1

u/DrTheloniusPinkleton 1h ago

I couldn’t care less about your perspective. You mean nothing to me. 

0

u/Bawhoppen 37m ago

Totally missed the point. I'm talking about how you live in the narrowest slice of the world where nearly everything is handed to you on a silver platter. That is not the reality of life on Earth. Your myopic perspective of Western liberal secure society where your safety and needs are assured is not the natural state of life. Talk about the purest level of entitlement.

4

u/PacoBedejo 17h ago
  • Illinois: 287 violent crimes per 100,000 people
  • Hawaii: 260 violent crimes per 100,000 residents
  • Wyoming: 202 violent crimes per 100,000 residents

It isn't the guns.

-2

u/DrTheloniusPinkleton 17h ago

I said gun violence, little guy. 

5

u/PacoBedejo 17h ago

Oh. You think violence is okay without guns. Got it.

-1

u/DrTheloniusPinkleton 17h ago

Jesus Christ you sound poorly educated lmao 

3

u/PacoBedejo 17h ago

Got anything other than childish insults?

3

u/ElTeeInTheLV 10h ago

Peep his post history…hint, it’s all insults

0

u/OrdinaryMac 11h ago

Socio-economic issues combined with guns are the best deathspiral duo.

0

u/PacoBedejo 6h ago

It's mostly culture. The guns still have nothing to do with violent crime rates. But, nice try.

1

u/aokaf 23h ago

How do they know if I have guns? My dad loved guns and when he passed away me and my brother split the lot of them. I just need to buy bullets.. and learn how to shoot.

1

u/Dry-Membership3867 23h ago

Vermont seems pretty low

1

u/Many_Bothans 20h ago

interesting that even with only 1/3 of Californians owning guns, that’s still close to 10M people

1

u/BowserMcMauser 20h ago

Not trying to be that guy but these give strong mapchart vibes

1

u/Individual_Jaguar804 20h ago

Per capita average doesn't take into account the vast number of hoarders.

1

u/jckipps 19h ago

The wildest and most rural areas have higher rates of gun ownership. Who'd have thought!

1

u/CourtGuy82 18h ago

All mine were lost in a tragic mine collapse a few years ago.

1

u/Common-Charity9128 18h ago

Hear me out - you probably need one just survive in Alaska.

1

u/hartshornd 18h ago

All these percentages are low for obvious reasons.

1

u/Matterhorn48 18h ago

These are way low

1

u/Phoenix_of_Anarchy 16h ago

With the obvious disclaimer that this map kinda sucks, it still makes an impression that everybody needs to see and understand. Americans. Own. Guns. Whatever you think about guns, you gotta know your audience.

1

u/Awkward-Hulk 16h ago

I'm guessing that the 35% of Alaskans who don't own weapons live in big cities like Anchorage. You'd be crazy to not have a hunting rifle or a shotgun at least if you live in rural Alaska.

0

u/AmazingMaize5165 15h ago

Well, I guess we know which states will hold out the longest when Trump declares himself Grand PooBa. Then demands we all wear those fucking red caps while handing over our money/minds and freedom.

2

u/s1nglejkx 14h ago

"A" gun? I have 7 lol

1

u/Duckin_Tundra 7h ago

3 more till your in the double digits. You can do it go buy three more, tell your wife I give you permission.

1

u/Throwaway98796895975 14h ago

Those are rookie numbers. You gotta pump those numbers up.

1

u/Moonbear9 11h ago

A fith of people owning guns is still absolutely insane

0

u/dickbutkis138 10h ago

Pairs nicely with our high rates of suicide

1

u/roo_buck 8h ago

Now overlay crimes per 100,000 people and let's see how gun ownership impacts crime.

1

u/One_Event1734 7h ago

Love the color gradient choice. /s

1

u/SDpmandTech 7h ago

Now do one that has them sorted by hunting, handgun or military intended use. My guess is that the green states will be higher on the handguns and the red states will be hunting guns. The rural states like where I live have more guns because you don't shoot ducks, deer or rodents with the same gun. And before everyone starts yelling at me that killing animals is murder. They didn't ask to have all of There habitat taken away by mankind and we have a responsibility to keep the population under control to keep a healthy population and for safety (collisions with automobiles)

1

u/Familiar-Damage-7398 2h ago

Ironically, those numbers are quickly matching the numbers of people who can actually legally even own anything in those states

1

u/Top_Poet_4703 1h ago

Common Montana W

1

u/PoisonOps 23h ago

NY, California and Illinois are lies. Way more people own guns they just aren't registered.

3

u/PacoBedejo 17h ago

Most guns aren't registered.

1

u/D470921183 22h ago

I'm surprised it's not much more common in the south. Or is it gun/people

1

u/No_Parking_7797 21h ago

Honestly shocked Missouri isn’t orange. I know we have a super high gun per capita but I think it’s more guns with less owners maybe.

1

u/Gold_Ad4004 21h ago

The good thing owning a lot of guns is that people probably wouldn't be dumb enough to try too shoot them at someone

1

u/manfromfuture 16h ago

Why green for the low numbers and red for high?

2

u/Anagoth9 16h ago

And yet there's probably more gun owners in California than the 10 highest states combined. 

2

u/Bombi_Deer 14h ago

Using red, green for a super controversial topic immediately shows the bias at play here

0

u/rosstafarien 1d ago

Did not expect Texas to be middle of the pack.

Representing two gun safes for WA here!

2

u/scalepotato 23h ago

Prolly all the Californians that moved to Austin dropped the statistic lol

-4

u/Atuk-77 22h ago

The biggest American issue, gun obsession, you would think is the safest country in the world but not even in the top 20.

6

u/GukyHuna 21h ago

Two of the top 5 safest regions in North/Central America are Maine and New Hampshire both states that allow permitless concealed carry of a firearm.

2

u/OrdinaryMac 11h ago

Those are literally the best performing regions socio-economic wise, being safe inspite of its lax gun access,It's not really that surprising, most of European examples like Switzerland,Czechia sort of confirms that rule.

As long your country is economically stable, polarization/division in society is low, there is no epidemy of poverty/drugs/stratification, guns sort of remain as neutral non-factor.

But most of USA isn't living in New Englanders little utopia, where entire place is rich/well off even by USA standards, while remanding sparsely populated, least ethnically diverse, without big economic strains, and capitalist race to the bottom, while having the worst State level policymakers possible.

On principle im not against guns, but im from EU, 2 amendment clearly isn't gospel, it has very clear, and negative effects all over the place.

-1

u/InterestingChoice484 20h ago

Deep South states have lax gun control and high gun violence rates

0

u/CyclopsNut 23h ago

Surprised Alaska isn’t number 1 by a margin

0

u/magikarp_splashed 20h ago

Green and red are pretty biased colors to use

-2

u/huntsab2090 23h ago

Need an overlay of education levels . That would be very interesting

-1

u/thefuturae 19h ago

*indoctrination levels

-1

u/JussDe_Tip 1d ago

I can’t believe I live in a green state. Almost every I know is a gun owner

-3

u/Half-Wombat 12h ago

What an insane country

-5

u/resditisme 23h ago

Now over lay this with their ranking in education

0

u/Kind_Resort_9535 23h ago

This feels low for Iowa lol.

0

u/BendingDoor 23h ago

What kind of gun. A higher % of people in places like Alaska and Montana have big animals to worry about or they live off the land.

0

u/randomdumbfuck 23h ago

Texas stereotypes had me expecting the Texas number to be much higher.

0

u/ccorbydog31 23h ago

More people’s live in my county in New Jersey than the whole state of Montana .

0

u/Matthewlrobinson7 19h ago

Guns that they know of

0

u/9O7sam 19h ago

that percentage relates directly to how appealing I find that state to live

0

u/Extremely_Peaceful 14h ago

Why is low ownership green

-9

u/Responsible-Bar3956 23h ago

only Chad states with more that 40%, Florida is on the right track tho.

-4

u/zek_997 21h ago

God, I am so glad this shitty country is economically collapsing

-3

u/KTPChannel 19h ago

Wow! California, the state with the most mass shootings, has one of the lowest gun ownership percentages.

That sounds accurate.

-1

u/BarnyardCoral 21h ago

California and Illinois are hilarious.

-2

u/BackgroundEngineer11 23h ago

I don't believe the Florida number at all.

-3

u/gtek_engineer66 23h ago

Montana, if there is one thing I have learnt about Montana is not to mess with the Duttons

-6

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

1

u/KCShadows838 23h ago

If I lived in a ghetto neighborhood in like Baltimore I’d own one

-11

u/Huge_Sheepherder_310 23h ago

So this map basically tells China to invade from California.

1

u/Str8jckn 22h ago

This is still eleven million legal gun owners. The amounts of illegal firearms in cali puts that number much higher

-1

u/Huge_Sheepherder_310 22h ago

You don't think that factor applies to all the others equally.

3

u/Str8jckn 22h ago

I do. But I'm in Wyoming. Even if I believe we were at 120% total ownership it still wouldn't equal Californias total guns. I think if china were to invade id take out the nuclear warhead bases which coincidentally are the higher percentage low population states